Presents or being Present ?

I'm going to switch gears here, yesterday sewing, today yoga.  All Things Ming encompasses all aspects of me so I figure this month is a great time to add some yoga.

A bit of a back story:

I have been studying a lineage of yoga philosophy with an amazing teacher for about 10 yrs now. I spend a few weeks a year with her immersed in these teachings and then spend the rest of the year applying them. Well at least that is my intention! That is where the real work comes in, living in everyday world and doing this work. Some yogis renunciate from the world and spend their lifetimes in these caves doing amazing sadhana (practice). Others do what is called a householders practice which means to stay in the every day world. Not that I remotely close to be in a league with any of these amazing beings. However, I was lead to my teacher and the teachings and like a moth to flame I was immersed. I am in the presence of some AMAZING practitioners who blow me away with their knowledge and grace. And yes some times I cant not even keep up with the lingo but as my teacher says "It is not the words that are important but the experience and your consciousness" So here is some  yogic "philosophy" lets say and in layman's terms.

Our world is vibrating at an amazing pace these day. Everything and everyone is working at such a higher and intense frequency, Just look at the weather recently. It is an incredible indicator.  

 We are in what yoga calls the "Kali Yuga" the dark age. An age of severe discourse and destruction. Yet Kali the diety is often shown as being very fierce at first, she isn't called the destroyer for nothing!  She starts out dark and fierce. Once you surrender to her fierceness and let her in to destroy parts of the "ego" She becomes such a divine force or "Ma". After the force come the divinity. Or lets just say she eats away all our junk and helps to bring us back to an clearer state. 

Kali Ma fierce but beautiful.

This month marks a planetary event that will not happen for like another 28,00 years. It is going to be extremely powerful.  

Yes ,Yes, we all know the hype about 12/21/12 and the whole Mayan calendar, yet it is just the end of their calendar cycle.  Do we know when things end or if they ever do. Everything is a cycle and in a constant continuum. 

What I have been shown is that there is going to be a shift in consciousness. A shift in thinking and action. A shift that can unite or divide us. With this planetary line up and the energies that are here we need to be ever so present in our thoughts and actions. Because what every thought or action we will take will be magnified significantly. For the good or the bad. If we are deep in pity and doubt, negative thought, pettiness, and "I" well it just going to be destructive. Yet we can not ignore these aspects of ego because they are a part of us . There can not be good without bad or joy without sorry. What can we do, we can work towards being more present in our thought and actions. Really be aware of what we do and how we think. We can acknowledge the "I' in ourselves and really work towards being open and spacious in our actions and everyday dealings of life.

I read a great article called the "Zombie Apocalypse"from a homesteading sight that I follow. The title was a bit misleading but it sparked my interest. The gist of it was that when people think of survivalism they tend to think of "their" family and "their"survival . But the important  thing was to think of "we" and "community" to survive. That it would not behove anyone to just think of "them" as a single for survival. The only way for one to survive would be for us all to survive ...to think "community" and "we". 

Maybe this is the shift, we need to be more in the "we" than the "I".  To let go of all the junk that we hold on too. Yes, I know this sound like very common knowledge. But at the intense energetic vibration we are working from I think this very common knowledge is extremely important and will be very magnified. We need to get expansive in all aspects. We need to work from this place.

We are in the Holiday season where we run our selves a bit ragged, maybe losing sight of the importance of what the season is about ( whatever that is to you, Christmas, Hanukkah, the Solstice) and it is going to be an intense one . So maybe the best gift to give is taking a breath, being a bit still, looking at the quality of our mind and actions, seeing what is. Lets not worry about the "PRESENTS"too much ( well maybe just a bit, they are lovely) and enjoy the greatest gift and be "PRESENT".

Happy Holidays and Namaste and Thanks for reading. It was a bit of a switch of topics, but hey my blog description warns you !  WHo knows what will be next with my brain, Hey look a chicken! ;)